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The
Artist
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Catherine
Lives and Works in
Brussels
Catherine Lemblé is a Belgian photographer based in Brussels. She received her MA in photography from Luca School of Arts Brussels. Her work has been exhibited at FOMU (Antwerp), De Brakke Grond (Amsterdam), Contretype (Brussels), Musée de la Photographie (Charleroi) and Helsinki Photo Festival, amongst others. She was selected for .tiff (FOMU, Antwerp) and FUTURES (European Photography Platform) in 2024. Her photographs have been featured in publications such as Stern, De Standaard, and Frankfurter Allgemeine Quarterly. She self-published her first book, Cabin Fever, in 2019. Her analog pictures examine the ever-changing relationship between man and the natural world.
She is currently working on her second photo book, Only Barely Still. The project challenges conventional ideas about the Arctic and highlights the underrepresented presence of women in Svalbard. It explores the relationship between women, nature, and the role language plays in shaping our perception of our environment.
Projects
Only Barely Still
The Arctic was never considered a proper place for women. Throughout history, women have been deemed unfit to deal with the challenges of an autonomous life in the public realm, let alone with the dangers of the isolated wilderness. Non-indigenous people to the Arctic have long conceptualised the polar region as a barren, inhospitable landscape where only the toughest of men could survive. This frame of mind is also reflected in the body of stories and literature set in the circumpolar region: women are mostly absent, and if they do happen to make an appearance, they are classified as man’s inferior companion, as an exception or as just not in their right mind, or both. At the same time the Arctic has traditionally been gendered as feminine in the Western world. Initially, it was regarded a region to be conquered and penetrated; as male territory that has to be brought into submission. Whereas this view has shifted in post-colonial times, the Arctic is still conceived of as feminine and is now collectively imagined as a pure, pristine place in need of our protection. A barren, virgin land in distress. By imposing on it a passive identity as an object of desire, this one-sided and simplified view is not aligned with reality. The project Only Barely Still aims to propose a different narrative of the Arctic and its collective imaginary. By standing on the axis of two misconceptions – about the Arctic on one hand, and the women in it on the other – it wants to respectfully capture their synergy.
Catherine
FOMU
Show all projects
Each year every member of the FUTURES European Photography Platform nominates a set of artists and projects to become part of the FUTURES network.
This years selected artists are Romain Cavallin, Lina Wielant and Elise Dervichian, Romane Iskaria, Ksenia Kuleshova, Catherine Lemblé, Nathan Mbouebe, Angyvir Padilla, Marcel Top, Marens van Leunen and Laure Winants.
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